When manufacturing electronic equipment, test procedures are normally performed in order to ensure that the equipment functions correctly. An electronic equipment, such as a device to be used in a computer or telecom network, comprises a least one printed circuit board (PCB) carrying the components and circuitry necessary for the device to perform its desired function, an enclosure in which the PCB(s) is/are positioned and at least one external connector enabling connection to be made with the circuitry within the device.
The test procedures typically include making electrical contact with the external connector (s) to enable the application of electrical signals to the circuitry within the device and to record the response. The present invention is directed to establishing the electrical connection during the test procedure. Therefore, the actual test procedures that are conducted do not form part of the invention.
One type of electrical connectors that are well known to be used for signal inputs and outputs to e.g. devices used in a computer or telecom network is a RJ11 connector or a RJ745 connector. These connectors are push-fit connectors that provide e.g. eight terminal connections and are used for connecting cables that carry signals. All of the connections may be used either as loop-back or direct connections.
A standard connector such as RJ11 or RJ45 or similar has a mechanical interlock between the male part of the connector and the female part, which interlock is normally formed of a resilient member that forms a latch on insertion of the male part into the female part, and which must be deflected by the user in order to break the connection. This connector is thus a mechanically secure connection and is widely used.
In a test environment it is desirable to rapidly establish and break electrical connections to devices in order to enable to test and process as many devices as possible during a certain amount of time. The use of a “normal” RJ11 or RJ45 male connector in order to make contact to the female connector on the device during test conditions has disadvantages since the mechanical interlock has to be operated manually. Therefore, the handling of such a connector is difficult to automate, and it would increase time of the test cycle if it is necessary to establish and break electrical connections with the help of the mechanical interlock for each socket under test. Furthermore, such standard connectors may not be constructed sufficiently durable for a test environment.
In the test environment, the device to be tested is held in a specific position such that the connector devices may be inserted automatically e.g. by machinery or by a robot in order to establish connection between a test system and a test device.
A commonly used connector device comprises a male connector and a female socket, wherein in each one RJ11 or RJ45 or another standard connector is fitted. The standard connector is used for testing electronic connections of telecommunication equipment, switches, routers, gateways etc. The male connector is push-fitted and has the same number of terminal connections as the standard connector, but comprises no mechanical interlock.
This type of connector devices are sometimes referred to as “wear boards”, wherein the cables from the test equipment is connected via the connector device, which is interchangeable, to the device that shall be tested.
The male connector's terminal connections may be in the form of conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate, e.g. metal directly attached on the PCB, and may be gold plated. A problem with this solution is that the conductive tracks erode from the laminate when repeatedly inserted into female sockets during testing. This result in bad connections, and often splinting where parts of the conductive material may come off and may cause a short circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,894 describes an automatic insertion connector device, for instance for use in a test environment, particularly for connection to an RJ45 type connector. The connector has a contact portion having the general form of a connector part arranged to match the connector part it is intended to connect to.
This known connector device and the wear boards with male connectors consisting of conductive tracks on the PCB both have a disadvantage of small connecting area between the horizontal conductive area of the male connector, and the angled conductive tongues within the female sockets. Thus, there is a need for an improved connector device with an improved guide element that brings the connector device in connection with the connector part.